Dog River
Dog River is a small, rural town in central Saskatchewan with a population of about 500. It is home to various establishments including Corner Gas, Ruby Cafe, a Police station and a bar and hotel. The town shares a border with Pitt Creek and is south of Crowley Lake. ( It is home to the only gas station within 60 kilometres (37 miles) in any direction, and due to the limited services in the town, residents will often travel to a nearby city (Regina) for shopping and other needs. All of the town's residents share a common (and apparently unreciprocated) disdain for the nearby town of Wullerton. Dog River is the twin town (sister city) of Henkenvyorken, Denmark and an unnamed city in Japan, although neither relationship lasted long on account of inappropriate gifts sent by the Dog River Twinning Committee to the other cities. History Homesteaders first arrived in the area in 1893. The first building (a simple wooden shed) was constructed by Harold Main, who would later be recognized as the town's founder. In 1901, after Eli Burrows drowned a dozen dogs in the nearby river, the residents held a meeting and decided to name their fledgling community "Dog River". Dog River was incorporated as a village on July 23, 1905 and later as a town on March 1, 1907. By 1916, the town had a population of 1000 residents. In 1986, Brent Leroy and Hank Yarbo, then high school seniors, spray-painted "Grad '68" on the town water tower. While the graffiti would become an iconic part of the town identity, the crime itself would go unsolved for another 18 years. In 2014, the municipal treasury was depleted by Mayor Fitzy Fitzgerald in a series of bad real estate investments in Detroit, Michigan. As a result, Dog River lost water and electric services for several days or weeks. The town was nearly bought out by CN Holdings to make way for a Coff-Nuts regional distribution center, and Wullerton offered to annex Dog River to solve the financial crisis. Both offers were soundly rejected by the residents of the town, who manage to bail out Dog River themselves using money raised by Karen Pelly, Wanda Dollard, and the residents of Wullerton. Most of the modern-day residents of Dog River are surprisingly uninformed about their community's history. For example, when asked how the town got its name, residents readily shared conflicting false stories: * According to Paul Kinistino, the original Cree name for the area was atim sîpîy, which translates to "River of the Dog." * According to Davis Quinton, the first Europeans to settle the area named it "Dogza Rivia" after their village in the "Old Country." * According to Karen, (who quickly admitted to fabricating the story) early settlers observed that from the air, the river was shaped similarly to a dog's leg. Several months later, during the town's 100th anniversary, Main Street was renamed Centennial Street because the residents did not realize it was named after their town founder. On the same occasion, the town's first building, misidentified as an unimportant old shed, was purposefully burned down by Hank in order to maintain the accuracy of his Lego scale model of the town after he ran out of blocks before making a replica of the old shed. At least some of the town's lack of historical awareness may be a consequence of deliberate attempts by several residents to bury the more the more unsavory parts of Dog River's past. For example, after learning the truth about the origin of the town's name, Lacey Burrows chooses to propagate Karen's story instead on the town plaque, which reads: Trivia *All of the outdoor scenes in the show were filmed on-location in Rouleau, Saskatchewan and residents often acted as extras. Several buildings in Rouleau were refurbished to serve as locations in the show, and a full-size mock gas station and diner were constructed at the edge of town. While a few locations have since been destroyed (including the gas station set), enough of "Dog River" remains that visitors to Rouleau can participate in a walking tour to see many of the show's iconic locations and backdrops. *The town's name is an homage to series creator Brent Butt's hometown of Tisdale, Saskatchewan, through which the Doghide River flows. Category:Towns